Ryan's Wedding
by theboyfriend-and-theprettygirl
Summary: As Ryan's wedding day approaches, Beckett with the help of her best friend Lanie, tries to tell Castle about her feelings for him. Set in Season 4. My version of how Ryan's wedding should have gone. Summary sucks, but please give it a go and read/review. Casskett and Lanie/Esposito.
1. Three Days until the Wedding

**Author's Note:**

This story is set somewhere in the middle of season four before Ryan and Jenny get married. It's my version of their wedding day.

This is my first ever Caskett story and I'm so nervous to be writing them, because I love them so much and I only hope I can do them some sort of justice.

Please leave me a review, so I know how I went.

Thanks,

Paris xxx

* * *

"I'm telling you man, everything changes after you are married!" Javier Esposito said to his best friend and partner, as they walked into the 12th Precinct Homicide Division. "The whole honeymoon phase wears off quickly and then you start taking her for granted because you no longer need to woo and impress her. Your pay becomes equally hers and she will use it _without_ asking. You have to give up all your favourite hobbies that you did before you were married. You can't pull all-nighters at the pub with your friends or me, because she will be waiting at home. All her debts become yours as well and you will need to pay out her credit cards whenever she has maxed them out for a shopping spree. Plus you will only realise all the annoying things she does after you start sharing a house with her. Then it's too late, my friend."

"Jenny isn't like that, man." Kevin Ryan said shaking his head in disagreement. "She's the love of my life. There's nothing that she does that annoys me anyways."

"_Really?"_ Javier asked sarcastically. "How's the cleansing diet going? I see you are still _struggling _to drink your grass drink."

"Okay, fine. The cleansing part is annoying but I'm getting married in three days. I won't have to touch this shit again after that."

Javier shook his head at his friend. Kevin could be so naïve sometimes.

"_What?_ Do you really think she will make me do another cleansing diet?" he asked, a little hysterically.

"I'm telling you bro, shit changes after marriage! Jenny will be ten times _worse_ and you will have to no choice but to listen to her when she is your wife!"

"What are we talking about?" Kate Beckett asked as the two men approached her desk.

"Prison life, you know the old ball and chain." Javier said quickly. "The life sentence you serve when you get married and sign away all your freedom."

"You make it sound so torturous." Kevin cried out.

"Oh, but it is." Kate said nodding her head in agreement. "You have no idea! If I were you, I would enjoy being single while it lasts."

Javier nodded in agreement and winked at her when Kevin was not looking. She loved it whenever Javier messed with Kevin's head. He was such an easy guy to make fun of, especially since he was so gullible and naïve most of the time. Despite being a Homicide Detective and one of NYPD's best; he really could be extremely clueless to the more simpler things in life.

"Kate, you don't really believe that do you? I mean you want to get married, right? It's every girl's dream!"

"I think the key word in that sentence is _girl's _dream. A strong independent _woman_ like myself doesn't need a man. I enjoy my freedom too much." She said teasingly.

"You guys are probably just messing with me. I get it, make fun of the easily fooled one blah, blah. You know its not too late to make Jenny take you off the wedding invites."

"And save me the time and money that it takes to buy you a wedding present?" Javier asked sarcastically. "You would never!"

Kevin shook his head at his friend and laughed. "Where's Castle?" he asked changing the subject. "He's late. Shouldn't he be here by now?"

"Oh, he is at home." Kate said looking up from the mountain of files on her desk. "You know what he's like whenever there's no murder. The guy _hates _paperwork."

"Damn him." Javier cursed. "He seriously has the best job. He gets to solve murders without doing all the boring stuff! So really no murders in dangerous NYC today?"

"Nope. It looks like it might be a good day to catch up on our files."

"Who are you calling?" Javier asked Kevin. "I bet it was Jenny. Man, you are so whipped."

"Castle." He replied, shoving his phone back into his pocket. "He didn't pick up though. He told me that he would give me an answer on whether he needed a plus one to the wedding by today."

"He's taking a plus one?" Kate asked, snapping her head up from her work.

"Well he wasn't too sure the last time I spoke to him. I need to know the final numbers by today, because Jenny needs to send the venue the list so they can fix the tables."

Kate tried her best to focus on the mountain of work before her, but all her thoughts were consumed with Castle.

_He must be seeing someone_, she thought as her heart sank a little. _Why else would he need a plus one?_

"Dude is Lanie bring a plus one?" Javier asked.

"Why should I tell you?" Kevin hit back quickly.

"Because I'm your best friend and partner."

"Oh, I get it now. So you are allowed to tease me and mess with my head for the last half hour and I'm meant to tell you if you ex is bringing a date to my wedding, huh? Sorry, buddy it doesn't work that way." He said hitting his friend hard on his back before heading to the direction of the Precinct's kitchen.

"That's a no, _right?"_ Javier asked Kate, when Kevin was out of sight.

xoox

"Lanie, are you taking anyone to Kevin's wedding on Saturday?" Kate asked her best friend.

"_I knew it."_ she said sarcastically. "When you said that you wanted a coffee break with your best friend, I knew you had a hidden agenda! You want to take Castle, am I right?"

"_What?_ No." she said quickly. "I mean, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."

Lanie raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at her friend.

"It's just, I was under the impression that we would _both_ be going alone and we would… you know stick with each other the night. But I think he is bringing a plus one."

"Kate Beckett, I don't know _how _many times I have to tell you the same thing, for it to reach that thick head of yours! It's really not that hard. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy…get your shit together!" she said before taking a sip of her coffee. "I don't know why you guys keeping dancing around the issue. It's tiring and I don't just mean for you two."

Kate smiled a little. Lanie always knew exactly how to cheer her up instantly. Whenever she needed some sort of perspective or butt-kicking, she would come to her friend. She was so good at giving her the hard facts, no matter how painful or annoying they might be at times. Sometimes she wondered if Lanie knew her better than she did herself!

"You never answered my question." Kate said before taking a sip of her cappuccino. "Are you taking anyone?"

"As a matter of fact, I am."

"Who's the guy? I bet it's going to make Javi so jealous!"

"I doubt it. After all, he broke up with me, remember?"

"I thought the break up was mutual."

"Kind of." she said sighing heavily. "We dumped each other. He couldn't tell me if he was _ever _going to be ready for marriage and I couldn't wait for a guy that might or _might not_ marry me. I'm in my thirties, Kate! I want to be married and have children before it's too late. My biological clock is ticking by fast. I can't waste my time with someone that doesn't have the same plans for the future, no matter how much I loved him. He was too scared to commit, so we ended things."

xoox

"Rick, darling." Martha said storming into his office and getting his attention. "I just got off the phone with Gina. She thinks you are _avoiding _her again because you haven't finished Frozen Heat. Please tell me that you are almost done? I really hate having to be the mediator between you two."

"I'm not and you should just screen her calls like I do, mother."

"Richard Castle, that's so horrible!"

"Must you always be so dramatic in the morning?"

"Well darling, I am an actress after all." She said cheekily. "So what are you working on? Please tell me it's at least a draft of some sort so I can tell Gina. She told me that if you keep avoiding her calls, she will come and pay you a visit in person. I figured that's worse given the fact that you guys broke up again a year ago."

"She can come and visit me, I just won't open up for her." he said before taking a sip of his espresso.

"So what have you written so far?" she said walking around to his side of the table to look at his laptop. "Oh, Richard!" she said sighing heavily and shaking her head. "Not this again. I thought you had stopped looking into Joanna Beckett's murder after the shooting."

"I haven't. I mean, I did for a while but I need to keep an eye on things to make sure that Kate doesn't get involved with it again. They will kill her, mother, if she doesn't stop."

"I get that you are very fond of this girl, but getting involved in a case like this is only going to put your life into danger! Think of Alexis, Richard! Do you really think she will want to go off to College if her father gets murdered because he couldn't keep his nose out of someone else's business?"

"No." Richard said solemnly. "You are absolutely right, mother." He said before shutting his laptop.

"So why aren't you at work?"

"Beckett is dong paperwork. She said she will call me if there were any murders. Speaking of the devil." He said answering his phone. "Hello Beckett."

xoox

"So what have you been doing all morning?" Kate asked when Castle approached her with two tall coffees.

"Writing." He lied quickly.

"How's Frozen Heat coming along anyways? When will it be finished?" she said before taking a sip of her coffee.

"You, too? You sound like my mother and Gina."

"Nice of _you_ _two_ to finally join us." Lanie said sarcastically, before Kate could ask Castle what was wrong.

"What do we have here, Lanie?" Kate asked.

"White Caucasian male. Our vic appears to be somewhere between his early to mid-forties. Multiple gun shoot wounds to the chest."

"Do we have an ID yet?" Kate asked.

"No. I couldn't find a wallet on him."

"It was probably dumped somewhere."

"We won't find out who he is until I get him back into the lab and run some tests. I found some sort of bruising on his neck and shoulders…there are a few prints but they appear to be partials. I'll let you know if I can salvage any of them."

"Where was he found?"

"In the dumpster," she said pointing to the big waste unit a few meters behind them. "A waitress called it in about a half hour ago."

"Any idea where the murder weapon is?"

"Not yet. But judging by the wounds we are looking at a 39 calibre."

"And do we have a time of death?"

"I'd have to take him back to the morgue and run some tests to confirm this, but my guess is he's been dead for a few days."

"So you are saying that he was killed before today and ditched in the dumpster?" Javier asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Lanie said with a little arrogance in her tone of voice. "He is already starting to smell, he was more than likely shot a few days ago and then dumped here today,"

"Why do that?"

"I don't know, Esposito." Lanie snapped angrily. "To get rid of the body? What other reasons are there?"

"It makes no sense to kill someone and then dump their body a few days later on, that's all."

"And how else do you suppose that they get rid of a dead body?"

"They could have buried it." he said defensively.

"In New York City? I _doubt_ it."

"It's been done before."

"Guys.." Kate said trying to break up their fight.

_"What?"_ they both growled angrily in unison.

"Ryan and Esposito, check missing persons for some kind match." She said when she had gotten her team's attention. "Castle and I will go and interview the waitress that called it in and the rest of restaurant staff. Lanie keep me updated on what the tox results say as soon as they come in."

xoox

**Author's Note:**

Hey guys, so that's chapter one.

If you liked it, please leave me a review. It only takes a few minutes.

Paris xx


	2. The Toxicology Report

"So Sasha, you were the one to call the body in. Can you tell us where you found the body?" Kate asked the pretty brunette waitress when she had managed to get her alone in a quiet room of the restaurant.

"I uh, went outside for a smoke break and I had some of the rubbish that I was going to throw out with me. I had my cigarette and then when I opened the bin to throw out the trash, I found it. I called the police straightaway and then you guys came shortly afterwards."

"Do you remember what time that was?"

"I think it was about forty minutes ago. You guys arrived on the scene pretty quickly." She said sniffing a little and wiping her eyes. "Do you know who did this yet?"

"That's what we are trying to find out." Rick said solemnly.

"Sasha, did you know the man? Was he a regular? Have you seen him before at your restaurant?" Kate asked, trying to trigger her memory into some little detail that might be able to solve this case.

"No. I have never seen him before." She said. "I'm sorry that I can't be much help, but I've told you everything that I know. Now, if you don't have any more questions for me, I best be going. My boss told me that he will dock my pay if I speak to you guys for longer than five minutes. He is short-staffed today and being a Thursday, it's one of the busiest times of the week. I'm sorry."

"That's all we have to ask you for now. Here's my card, in case you remember anything." Kate said passing her a card quickly. "Thanks for your time Ms Pierce."

"No problem, I hope you find the person that did this." She said curtly with a smile and then went back to her work.

"_What?"_ Kate asked, rolling her eyes at Castle.

She only had to look at him to know that he was about to say some kind of elaborate theory that she was not necessarily going to like.

"You don't think she did it, do you? Why would she call the body in if she murdered him Castle?" she asked, jumping ahead to put doubt into his head.

"No, I don't think she murdered him." He said shaking his head a little. "But she's _lying_ to us."

"_Really?"_ Kate asked unamused. "How did you know?"

"It just doesn't make sense. She said that she went out for a smoke break and to dump the rubbish. But why would you take out the rubbish bag with you when you are going to smoke first? Wouldn't it make more sense to smoke first, then wash your hands and then dump the trash? Otherwise she essentially touched a dirty bag of rubbish and then smoked a cigarette? Who would do that? It's disgusting and unhygienic."

"Maybe she did wash her hands and forgot to tell us?" Kate said rolling her eyes. "Or maybe she got mixed up. She could have dumped the rubbish, found the body, called it in and then had her smoke? Does this even matter, Castle?"

"I just got the feeling that she was keeping something from us. It seemed like she was _protecting _someone."

"You got all that out of one five minute conversation? You really do have a vivid imagination, Castle, don't you? Now wonder you are a writer!"

xoooxo

"Look, I'm really sorry that my staff and I can't be much help. But we have already answered all of your questions regarding this investigation. Now I am going to have to ask you to leave." The restaurant manager said sounding a little irritated. "I can't have cops lingering around here, you are scaring my customers away."

"Mr Iccano, I understand what this must be doing for your business," Kate said agreeing with the annoyed owner, "but we just need to interview one last person on the list of employees that you gave us and we will go. Can you please tell us where to find Nate Bishop?" she asked reading the name of the small piece of paper that she was holding in the hands.

"Nate went home for the day." He said. "He is one of our kitchen hands and he works the from midnight until the breakfast rush."

"Do you have a contact number where we can reach him?"

"Yeah, I think I do somewhere. Come into my office and I will give it to you. But after that, please you must go." He begged.

xoooxo

"So we checked our vic against missing persons and we didn't find a match." Esposito said when Beckett and Castle walked back into the Precinct.

"But Lanie called and said that she managed to ID our vic. His name was Joshua Peters, forty-one. He was a lawyer at Gardiner, Scott & Price and he lived alone in a studio apartment in the Lower West Side."

"We are on our way over there now to check out his place." Esposito said. "Did you guys find out anything from the restaurant staff?"

"Nothing that would give us any sort of leads. Nobody really new our vic. We still have one last employee to interview, but he won't be coming until the afternoon. Do you want Castle and I to come with you?" Kate asked.

"We should be fine." Ryan said leaving a file on his desk. "But you should go and see Lanie, she said that she had something strange to show you."

"Okay." Kate said taking off her leather jacket and hanging it behind her chair. "Did she say what it was about?"

"No, she didn't." Ryan said quickly. "Hey, Castle, before I forget. Jenny needs the final numbers for today…so are you bringing a plus one for Saturday?"

Kate quickly snapped her head up from a file that she had been reading on her desk and Castle quickly shot her a look before looking at Kevin.

"Uh, can I get back to you in a bit? I'm not sure if she can make it yet."

Kevin sighed heavily. "I'll give you to the end of the day to sort it out. Jenny is freaking out because she wants to finalize the seating arrangement, that's all."

"I'll let you know before five."

"Let's go, Kev." Javier said placing a hand on his partner's shoulder.

xoooxo

"So, you're uh, bringing a plus one on Saturday?" Kate asked, trying her best to not sound jealous as they waited idly in the elevator on the way down to the Morgue.

"Yeah, I am." He said casually. "Why, are you _jealous,_ Beckett?"

"Of you bringing a date?" she asked pretending to scoff loudly. "No way. Why would I be? Besides, I'm bringing someone too."

"You are?"

"Yeah and he's a great guy." She said lying quickly. "I'm really looking forward to getting to know him better on Saturday. It's kind of our first proper date. I'm just relieved that you are bringing someone too, so that way I won't have to be babysitting you all night."

"I, uh, didn't even know that you had met someone."

"It's only pretty new."

"Where did you meet him?" he asked, trying the best to contain his jealousy.

"At the gym a couple of nights ago."

"You met him a couple of days ago and now you're taking him to Kevin's wedding? Isn't that a bit fast? Don't you think you might scare him off? Or give him the wrong idea?"

"I don't want to marry him, Castle! Besides I've seen him for a couple of months at my gym. He takes kick-boxing classes with me. But he asked me out a couple of nights ago…so I figured what the hell."

"I don't know, Beckett, it doesn't sound good. I mean, how well do you _really _know this guy?" he asked following her out of the lift when the doors of the elevator opened.

"Castle, you sound like a jealous boyfriend!" she said rolling her eyes. "I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself. Not to mention that I am a cop and that we will be surrounded by all of NYPD's finest on Saturday, so he will be picking the _wrong _place to try and do something stupid."

"I still think that it's a bad idea." He mumbled, as they walked into the lab.

"What have you got for us, Lanie?" Kate asked changing the subject.

"You are not going to believe what I found out." She said walking over to Kate and handing her a piece of paper with lab results. "Tox results showed high levels of alcohol in his system."

"So, he was drunk?"

"That's not all it showed. The preliminary report also shows mild to moderate traces of aconite."

Kate gave Lanie a quick, puzzled look that meant she had no idea what her friend was trying to say. She did this whenever Lanie went all Medical encyclopaedia on her.

"Kate, our vic was poisoned first and then shot. The poison was more than likely mixed with his alcoholic beverage, but it was not a heavy dose…one that could have killed him on the spot. My guess is that whoever did it gave him a mild dose that was still potentially fatal…one that would kick in a little later."

"So what are you saying? That our victim was poisoned and then shot? Why would they shoot him if they had just poisoned him?"

"I know." Castle said excitedly, sounding almost like a little girl.

"Castle, not now."

"But, this is the perfect scenario for the case I _always_ speak about!" he said whinging a little.

Kate rolled her eyes and ignored him. "Maybe they shot him, because when the poison started to kick in, our vic became violent and tried to hurt them?"

"Or it could be-"

"Castle, I don't have time for your silly theories!"

"Kate, I think he's right this time." Lanie said jumping in quickly to back up Castle. "Based on the evidence here before us, we are more than likely looking at _two_ killers."

xoxo


End file.
